Woman accused of duping doctor couple of Rs 6 cr

Hameed Ashraf | NT

Bengaluru: A city based doctor couple have filed a complaint with the police after they allegedly lost Rs 6 crores to a woman who promised to facilitate the purchase of a high-end car at a discounted rate.

It is learnt that the victims, Dr Girish and his wife Dr Manjula, have been running a private hospital in Vijayanagar Police Station limits in Bengaluru for several years.

According to a complaint filed by the victims, a woman identified as Aishwarya Gowda had approached their hospital seeking cosmetic surgery in 2022.

She had allegedly claimed to be a real estate financier and befriended the victims.

Learning that the couple were planning to buy a high-end car, the accused further claimed that she was also involved in buying and selling used luxurious vehicles in the city. Intrigued by this, Dr Girish requested her to help him get a new high-end car.

Promising help, the accused allegedly convinced the couple to transfer Rs 2.75 crore to her bank account through RTGS and later got Rs 3.25 crore in cash from them.

Following this, the couple noticed that the accused had started avoiding them which aroused their suspicion. The accused even avoided their phone calls, the victims stated in their complaint.

Worried about losing their money, the couple met the accused woman at a club in the city and requested her to return their amount.

However the woman turned furious and allegedly abused them and further threatened Dr Girish to implicate him in a false sexual harassment case and ruin the couple's career.

The couple have also claimed that the woman started blackmailing them and took another Rs 2 lakh for hushing up the matter. Depressed by the extortion, the couple approached the Vijayanagar Police Station and filed a complaint against the woman.

The police said that they have summoned the accused in the case for questioning and further details will be ascertained following a probe.

According to the police records of Criminal Breach of Trust, Cheating and Counterfeiting, 702 offences were reported in the year 2022.

The numbers rose to 605 in November 2023 and further to 720 in December 2023 in Bengaluru.